20110929

St Clements Tray Bake Recipe

This simple cake recipe takes only a few minutes of easy preparation and a half hour to bake. It is one of many "tray bake" recipes. You could substitute other flavourings such as chocolate, vanilla or almond (but then you would have to give it a different name; you will understand why in a minute).

Ingredients

1 cup margarine or butter

1 cup sugar + more for the drizzling sauce

1 cup self-raising flour

3 eggs

Lemon juice

Orange zest or candied peel

Preparation

Soften the margarine (15 seconds in a microwave does the trick nicely)

Stir in the sugar, lemon juice and eggs then mix until smooth

Add the flour and stir briskly using a whisk until the batter is perfectly smooth

Pour into a shallow baking tray lined with parchment paper

Bake at 350-375F for a half hour or until a knife blade inserted into the centre comes out clean

Mix a tablespoon of lemon juice with more sugar than will dissolve in it, then warm the mixture in a microwave for 10 seconds to dissolve all the sugar. Allow the sauce to cool, then drizzle all over the top of the finished cake

Decorate the top of the cake with orange zest or candied orange peel

John's Notes
Okay, what's with the strange name? Why St Clements? The name comes from a childrens' rhyme, popular in the UK, about the bells of various churches in the City of London. It begins: "Oranges and Lemons say the bells of St Clements". The rhyme dates back to the early 18th Century.

This recipe was inspired by a similar one published on mydish.co.uk attributed to British TV actor Martin Clunes.

Cussons Imperial Leather Soap

This is almost certainly the best known soap in Britain. It's distinctive scent, created in 1768 for a Russian prince, is loved by millions, both in Britain and abroad.

The soap with that very regal scent, originally called "Imperial Russian leather" was created in 1938. During the war years, when soap was rationed, Imperial Leather became very popular because of its reputation for lasting longer than regular soaps.

During the 1950s, Cussons began a TV advertising campaign. It was the appearance of Cussons ads during airing of popular TV shows that led to the popularization of the term "soaps" to describe popular TV dramas.